


It's Complicated

by WittyWallflower



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Romantic Gestures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:07:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27311641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WittyWallflower/pseuds/WittyWallflower
Summary: Bashir stood up for Garak when someone was harassing the tailor at the bar, but now Julian is worried it may not have been the right way to go about things because Garak is avoiding him.
Relationships: Julian Bashir & Miles O'Brien, Julian Bashir/Elim Garak
Comments: 8
Kudos: 113





	It's Complicated

The door to Julian Bashir's quarters opened and the man himself entered, propelled by a gentle shove from Miles O'Brien. The doctor threw his lanky body down on the sofa, his stormy face reminding Miles all too much of sulky toddler.

"So you want to tell me what this fuss was in Quark's I've been hearing about all day?" the chief asked as he took a seat.

"Some bloody big bully of a Nausicaan made several remarks I took objection to. Remarks aimed at Garak, referencing certain pieces of silverware," Julian explained.

That was enough to make it clear to Miles. He'd had an unfortunate tendency to use casual slurs against Cardassians in the past but he hoped 'spoonhead' wasn't on that rather shameful list. O'Brien liked to think he'd shed that last of his prejudices against Cardassians through honest self-improvement, long before his best friend started dating one and he had to make nice either way. 

"So I stood up and told him to sod off, to get out of the bar before I threw him out, " Julian finished sourly.

Miles almost wished he could have seen Julian square up against an alien who must have outweighed him by a hundred pounds. But if he had been there Miles doubtlessly would have felt the need to back the doctor up, and he was getting a bit too old for bar brawls.

"I imagine he didn't take kindly to that," Miles said with half a smile. 

"He did not. Odo does have uncanny timing though. Even Quark backed me up, if you can believe it, and asked the Constable to remove him. Said the latinum he made selling the cheapest swill in the place to the Nausicaan wasn't worth making his 'valued regulars' uncomfortable. "

Would Quark have gotten involved if the Nausicaan had been drinking from the top shelf? Would profit take precedence over friendship? It usually did with Ferengi, but Quark had pulled a few surprises in his time. Still, it was something that Quark hadn't just turned a blind eye till a friend was left bloody on the floor of the bar. 

"What exactly was your plan if Odo hadn't shown up?" Miles asked.

"To goad the Nausicaan into starting a physical confrontation," the doctor answered as if were obvious. "Then Odo would have an excuse to throw him in the brig, and I could reasonably claim self-defense when I broke his damn nose."

Miles raised an eyebrow at him and Julian shrugged.

"Their nasal structure is surprisingly weak. One solid blow from the heel of my hand and he'd be snorting bits of broken bone."

"Bit violent for Julian Bashir, don't you think?"

Of the two of the them, Miles was the one with the temper. But it was more the yelling sort rather than the kind that started swinging. 

"I really didn't feel like a pacifist in the moment," Julian said, quiet but firm.

"And what was Garak doing while you were defending his honor?" Miles asked.

The Cardassian could hold his own in a fight, that O'Brien knew; between the former spy and the doctor they could certainly handle even a pissed off Nausicaan. Miles was a bit surprised the older man, with his greater experience with hostile antagonists, hadn't taken control of the situation immediately. He'd seen Garak talk down, and take down, worse.

"Watching, possibly? That or he left immediately, I'm not sure. I was a bit distracted by the confrontation. By the time Odo forced the Nausicaan to pay his tab and kicked him out, the table was empty and Garak was nowhere in sight. After, Odo insisted I file a security report on the incident. Then Sisko got involved, so I didn't have a chance to go looking for Garak. I commed him after the announcement but he didn't answer. And now I can't find him anywhere."

The station-wide announcement had been a general proclamation. In the interest of peaceful interactions between all the many people who visited the station, those committing discrimination or racial harassment would now have charges files against them and be subject to punitive fines, etc. etc. Really, policies like that should have been in places ages ago. They were standard on Starfleet vessels and applied to civilians as well as staff.

The Chief guiltily wondered how many fines his casual use of 'Cardies' would have lost him if DS9 had been anything like Enterprise. 

"An announcement like that, so soon after the incident in the bar... People aren't dumb, they'll put two and two together and know exactly how the new rules came to pass." Miles gave with a whistle of unfortunate realization, "You've exposed him to a lot of gossip."

Julian groaned unhappily, sitting forward to prop his elbows on his knees and bury his face in his hands.

"I know. Worst part is I've probably made him look weak, like he can't defend himself, and he despises weakness." With a sigh Julian dragged his palms down his face and propped his chin on one hand to regard Miles with an earnest expression. "It's just... he's always so cautious, you know? So guarded."

"I don't think that's something you're going to be able to change about him, Julian," O'Brien warned.

"I'm not trying to change that, Miles. It's just who Elim is and I've accepted that. I just... wanted to show him I have his back. That someone cares enough to stand up for him. I know he can take care of himself, but is it so wrong to want to defend someone you care about?"

The Cardassian was the suspicious trust-nothing-and-no-one sort. But really, if standing up to an aggressive alien a foot taller than himself wasn't a display of Bashir's loyalty, what would be? Male pride could be a touchy thing though, O'Brien knew that. And Garak was a complicated man.

"'Course it's not wrong, not at all!" he tried to reassure Julian. "Why not have the computer locate him? Then you two can talk, you can apologize, and when he'd done letting you twist, you can both put this all behind you?"

"I can't do that. Rather, I _could_ but it wouldn't be playing fair. He's got the right to avoid me if he really doesn't want to see me. I have to respect his space, and just hope he wont be mad at me forever."

That was a very healthy and adult way of thinking to Miles' estimation. Julian really had grown up. In the early days he was too persistent by half and never knew when to leave well enough alone. The two of them would probably have become friends a little sooner if the doctor hadn't been so overwhelmingly keen on making it happen. Finally he had learned to give a person a bit of peace to sort out their thoughts, without his constant chatter to drown them out.

Miles liked to think he'd had a hand in mellowing Julian out. He knew he couldn't ignore that Garak had had an influence on the younger man as well. As doubtful as the chief had been when Julian started having regular lunches with the man, he had to admit they had both been good for each other.

"Really though. A _Nausicaan_?" O'Brien asked, returning to the day's events "What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking an ugly son of a bitch just insulted someone I care about very much and what kind of man would I be if I did nothing about that? I was thinking that I love Garak and I wanted to make sure he knew that. I was thinking how terribly clever and romantic it would be to propose to him in the Cardassian way. What I didn't spend enough time thinking about was how he would react to me trying to play knight in shining armor by making a scene in front of everyone at Quark's. Nor did I think about the fact that Garak has never once in the entire time I have known him mentioned an interest in getting married. And of course until this moment I also thoroughly failed to consider that when he gets the chance to return to Cardassia, he certainly won't be able to do so with a human husband in tow. A Starfleet officer, no less."

Julian was really nattering on with agitation now, suddenly more angry with himself than racist alien bruisers. Miles stared at him, unable to process the rapid shift in topic. He needed a minute to separate what seemed to him to be two entirely unrelated trains of thought. Once he had it all untangled, he still couldn't make sense of what the one had to do with the other.

"Marriage? What the hell does a barfight have to do with marriage?" He asked.

"Cardassian courtship rituals... it's complicated," was Julian's non-answer

Miles knew full well that Cardassians flirted via arguments and antagonism so maybe he could see a connection there. If a spirited debate was flirting, what would a fistfight be? But they couldn't just go around punching the person they loved (could they?), so is that where angry drunks came in? Jeezus, why did so many of Julian's relationships have to get so complicated? He almost longed for the days of Leeta, who had been a very straight-forward gal, and good fun to socialize with.

But Leeta loved Rom. And god help him, Julian loved Garak.

"So tonight was supposed to be a proposal?" Miles asked in surprise. 

"No. Well, sort of; part of one, but not really," Julian fumbled, rolling his eyes at his own nonsense. "Like I said, it's complicated. And I really don't think Garak would thank me for explaining it all to you. You know how private Cardassians are about this kind of thing."

"Huh," Miles huffed an acknowledgement of that. "Well, I don't know I'll be much help then, even though I _have_ successfully proposed to a woman if you'll remember."

"If _you'll_ remember, so have I. I was engaged once." Julian reminded him.

"Spose that's true." Miles had forgotten about it, if he was honest. It happened long before they met and Julian had only talked about her the once. "The dancer, was it? Guessing your experience with her doesn't really translate to your current situation."

"Absolutely not in the least."

"Well, without knowing more of the details you're so reluctant to share, I can't offer much by way of advice," Miles said but smiled kindly. "I do happen to have a nice scotch back in my quarters though."

"A drink sounds marvelous. I didn't get halfway through mine before that brute decided to ruin a perfectly nice date." Julian sighed, "But I should really look for Garak. I was supposed to spend the evening with him after all."

"Do you really think he'll be ready to talk?" Miles asked, dubious.

"Frankly I doubt he'll ever actually address the subject. At least not directly. He'll find some other way to express his displeasure, I in turn will make my unspoken apologies with no mention of the events that prompted them, and when he's done 'letting me twist' as you call it, we'll figure it out."

"Julian..." Miles stared at him for a long moment, a little worried for his friend. The O'Brien marriage wasn't perfect, but while his fights with Keiko may be unpleasant. they weren't nearly so complicated as all that. The two did their yelling, separated to do their seething, then eventually cooled down enough to make their apologies and figure out a compromise. 

Bashir waved him into silence, already regretting his bitter words.

"I'm making it all sound so terrible and unhealthy, aren't I? It's not, I promise you, I'm just in a mood. It's complicated, and its certainly not your conventional way of going about a relationship, but we _do_ communicate properly. Not in ways I could ever explain so it would make sense to you, or anyone except him, but when I say we'll figure it out, I mean it. We always do."

Miles actually believed that. He wasn't privy to the inner workings of the relationship. Julian was significantly less likely to complain and gossip the way he had about some of his girlfriends. But Miles couldn't fail to notice that Julian was genuinely happy with the Cardassian. And not just romantically. He seemed more at ease with himself, less prone to moments of frenetic anxiety. By all appearances (and Miles had watched very closely) the two were quietly content together.

"But to answer the question you were trying to ask," Julian continued, "no, I don't expect that he'll be interested in my company just yet. Still... I should make the effort."

"You've already searched for him and there's nothing more you can do till he turns up. Come have a drink. I get that he's angry with you, but you didn't actually do anything _wrong._ No sense punishing yourself by wandering around the station alone all evening."

"All right, Chief," Julian capitulated with a slight smile, grateful for his friend's caring. "A little liquid courage can't hurt. And you do have excellent taste in spirits."

Miles chuckled as they left Julian's quarters and headed to the O'Brien family suite.

* * *

In the darkness of Julian's bedroom, Elim Garak's eyes were wide as saucers. All his previous irritation and humiliation had drained away. Along with the rigidity of his posture. He slumped untidily against the wall in the shadows besides the open doorway to the living area. When he heard the door to the outer corridor close behind the exit of the other men, he finally let himself draw in the extra oxygen he suddenly felt he badly needed. His heavy breaths were audible as he tried to collect himself. 

It hadn't been his intent to spy on Julian. Not that anyone would believe him given the situation he had found himself in but he had never planned to eavesdrop on Bashir. The doctor's quarters were merely the first option that had presented itself as a place to hide. It was certainly be the last place Julian would think to look for him, and he had planned to be gone before Bashir made his way home to bed.

As unpleasant as the scene in Quark's had been, Julian's defense had been rather gratifying. The beautiful man hadn't even hesitated, surging to his feet so quickly he'd nearly upended their drinks into Garak's lap. It took his best reflexes only seconds to save the glasses and settle them safely out of the way, but that was all it took for Julian to plant himself toe-to-toe with a man who towered over him. The accented voice was pitched deep and threatening, but loud and mocking enough to goad a bully.

Foolish in the extreme in the face of an alien who looked like he could snap the skinny human in half like a twig. Garak had actually had a moment of fear for his dear doctor's safety before he spotted Odo on the approach. Being afraid always put Garak in an extremely foul mood. He had a most unfortunate tendency to lash out at others. So when he'd seen that the situation would be handled and Julian kept safe, he'd made his stealthy escape. He would not take his foul mood out on Julian and hurt the dear man who had only tried to ride to his rescue.

Then that damned announcement had blared over the station's public address system. Coming right on the heels of the incident in the crowded bar, there would be no mistaking the cause of it. They might as well have mentioned him by name. "All aliens must be kind and respectful towards Mister Garak, or face a Federation slap on the wrist." Elim Garak, formerly the most deadly agent in the Obsidian Order, now with such a shameful, pitying spotlight thrown on him.

How the mighty had fallen.

He knew it wasn't fair to blame the situation on Julian. Knew his loss of face wasn't an acceptable reason to be cruel. So he had chosen not to face his lover until he had himself under control again. 

Even after all this time, Garak couldn't forget what had happened after the wire failed him. The way he had lashed out and hurt the only person in the universe who was actually trying to help him. He'd been so grateful that Julian had forgiven him. And so utterly disarmed when he learned that not only did Julian still want his friendship, but he actually wanted more from Garak. Much more than Garak had ever guessed.

Even now, settled as they were as exclusive companions in a mutually satisfying romantic relationship, he still would never have guessed Julian's affections extended so far as _this_.

Julian truly wished to be enjoined to him?


End file.
